Interview: TODD HUNTER (DRAGON)

One of our favourite bands, Dragon, is on the road again. Did I say ‘again’? Well, they never really stopped! And they never stop coming up with new ways to keep the music alive for audiences around the country. In 2016 and 2017, the guys brought us their Countdown show where they not only performed their own songs but the classic hits of other great Aussie bands from the Countdown era. Now they’re back doing it again but with a twist. This time, they are celebrating the songs of The UK 80s Chartbusters with music from such popular UK artists as Duran Duran, The Police, Billy Idol, Queen and much more.

“We’re trying to keep it interesting,” explains founding member and bass player, Todd Hunter, in our recent interview. “It’s a natural progression from the Aussie chart one and the fact is there are some great songs from that era and it just sort of gave us a way to focus in on it; songs like ‘Heroes’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, ‘Karma Chameleon’, ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’, ‘Take on Me’… all that stuff.”

The band has already played a few of these shows and they have been surprised by the obvious affection that the audience seems to have for all these songs. There has been a real revival of 80s music lately and while those of us who remember the 80s love to relive those days, Todd says that a large percentage of the crowd is actually much younger. “It’s great. Because of the internet now, music is more accessible. People know the songs rather than the bands so if they like the song, they like the song which is great.” But the show isn’t entirely about the UK hits. The band will be doing two sets. The first set is the UK songs and the second set, he says, “is all the Dragon stuff. And that seems to keep everyone happy.”

How difficult was it to choose which songs to include in the set?

“It was a process of elimination really,” Todd explains. “If anyone in the band objected to one song, we wouldn’t do it, so we ended up with a whole bunch of songs that everybody liked. I wanted to do ‘Making Plans for Nigel’ by XTC, but nobody else thought it would be a good idea so it didn’t happen. But it’s funny, with shows like this, you can’t just do the really big songs because then you’re like a cover band; but you can’t do really obscure ones either so it’s like a path through an era of songs that work very well. ‘Take on Me’ which Pete sings which is quite high, ‘I Ran’, and we finish with ‘White Wedding’ and ‘Rebel Yell’.”

While they are happy with the songs they have now, he points out that there will most likely be some changes to the set list as the show evolves. “It can be a bit of a challenge with ten songs,” Todd points out, “especially for Mark with all the lyrics that he has to keep in his head plus everything else that he’s doing.” But mixing it up every now and then, he admits keeps it interesting. “It’s not the same thing all the time.”

In between all the gigs, the guys have also been busy recording a new album. “You can hear some songs from that if you go to the band’s Facebook page,” he tells me. “It’s called ‘Life is a Beautiful Mess’ and every week we release another song and put it up on the page.”

You can catch Dragon as they celebrate Countdown 80s UK Chartbusters at the following venues. Tickets are on sale now.